Striking a cautiously optimistic tone during the State of the County address, county department heads and representatives reported growth and new programs for the area through 2012 and into the new year.

From the Adair County Ambulance District to the local SB40 office, county programs expanded, hired more and looked forward to efforts like new enforcement programs at the Adair County Sheriff’s Office to expanded immunization efforts at the Adair County Health Department.

Representatives from the county health department, sheriff’s office, library, Senate Bill 40 Developmental Disability Board, rural public water district and commission related their respective department’s 2012 happenings with the majority reporting positive growth, expanded payrolls and new programs.

The sheriff’s office will be developing an anti-bullying program in the coming year, in addition to expanding its anti-methamphetamine efforts, Sheriff Robert Hardwick said during his portion of the annual address hosted by the Kirksville Area Chamber of Commerce.

“We want to bring light to some of the situations kids face in schools,” Hardwick said of the anti-bullying effort, which will focus at first at Ray Miller Elementary.

Hardwick also outlined a methamphetamine interdiction effort focused on a community-wide coordination of anti-meth resources from area sheriff’s departments to extra investigation training.

“It’s a problem we face,” Hardwick said.

The increased attention on fighting meth and bullying comes at the same time as the department operates with an about $100,000-lighter budget from last year.

Hardwick highlighted efforts to lessen the financial burden of operating the county jail from increasing inmate housing from across northern Missouri to reducing full-time staff to part-time.

The Adair County Health Department also outlined future program efforts, including an emphasis on increasing immunization rates across the county, with Administrator Jim LeBaron reporting the department has also expanded its local medical response corps and started on developing a strategic plan for the coming years.

“We want to improve our capacity to do planning and also expand that to a five-year plan,” LeBaron said.

The department also began offering Medicare Part D services and is closely monitoring changes with the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion in Missouri.

The Adair County Ambulance District reported that during the past year it has been expanding both in its facilities and also in hiring 11 new employees.

The district purchased another building near its current location on Potter Avenue, developing what Administrator Larry Burton called an “ACAD campus.”

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The new building will be used to expand the department’s training facilities. Burton said the training is not only an asset for the community, it helps guide talented EMS professionals to ACAD.

“We have the nice opportunity of seeing these young men and women during their training,” he said, noting about 90 percent of ACAD employees are graduates of the local Kirksville program.

Looking forward, Burton said ACAD is interested in establishing satellite bases across the county, with the intent of utilizing surplus ambulances and vehicles to allow for faster response times in the county.

“It can be tough to get out into the county,” he said.

Many of the departments reported positive budget growth in 2012, including the Adair County SB40 Developmental Board which had total revenue of about $1.2 million and expenses of about $930,000. But Board Member Nancy Pennington cautioned state funding is expected to decline in the coming years.

“Within the division [at the state] there are a lot of people that need a lot of things,” she said of funding.

But despite those concerns, the surplus has allowed the department to enhance its PACT Center and its offerings and also look to expand the summer job-assistance LIFE program for those with developmental disabilities.

“It helps keep them independent,” Pennington said of the program’s participants who work at several job sites across the county throughout the summer. “It teaches life skills, how to communicate with people and how to be on time, things that will help in life.”

She said SB40 would like to expand its summer program and is in need of employers to open their doors for the workers.

“We have youth with abilities that aren’t being tapped yet,” she said.

The next in the Chamber series will be the “State of the District” on March 22 at the Adair County Annex at 8 a.m.